Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, A Hunger Artist And The Trial

When emotion overwhelms you, you have two choices; let it eat away at you slowly, each and every day, or attempt to purge it from your memory. Into Thin Air is Jon Krakauer’s way of preventing himself from going insane and parting with his overwhelming emotions. Although I have not first-handedly experienced traumatizing events in the same way Krakauer has, I relate to the want, or need, to dispose of extreme thoughts through art. Contrastingly, I often part with my emotions through vague paintings only I can accurately decipher, while Krakauer parts with his emotions through a twenty one chapter novel in which he gives the readers nearly excessive details about not only his emotions, but also the emotions and hardships of others. While reading

Over time, psychoanalysis has been revised and developed in different directions. There are many basic tenets of psychoanalysis, and it has received criticism from a wide variety of sources. Nonetheless, it remains a strong influence within the realm of psychiatry, and more so in some quarters than others. Simply put, Freud explores the unconscious mind. And although Kafka may not have meant for it to come across this way in his writing, his characters and the events that take place truly do reflect him. Knowing Franz Kafka’s life is a key to understand his writings for the events of his life are the clear origin of the neurotic tensions of his works. Thesis: Through the use of Freudian Psychoanalysis, Franz Kafka’s life as well as Kafka’s work, The Trial, is further unearthed using the three psychic zones of id, ego and superego as well as the themes of alienation, guilt, frustration and helplessness.

Society often fail to understand and see the mental pain that individuals carry throughout their lives. Some people bear its burden, while others suffer greatly because of it, to the point of choosing self-destruction. The narrators from “The Gargoyle” (Davidson) and “Walk to Morning” (Boyden) both experience this pain that ultimately sets them on a course to a deep pit. They survive their near-deaths and later encounter unique life-changing people. As a result, they become better individuals.

This year, we read four great works of literature. Each piece is so different from each other, yet all writing demonstrates that everybody is human and experiences harsh circumstances. At the point when life gets difficult, people read books to realize that they are not the only one. In each great piece of writing, we see and feel the characters' battles and feelings of anguish that makes it so relatable for the readers. The characters show the genuine unpredictability of life. In the pieces we read we see death, tragedy, and courage portrayed magnificently.

“The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka and the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” by Francis Copler don’t seem to have a lot in common at first glance. One is an old novella taught in literature classes, and the other is a Christmas movie, but if you look closer you can see they share common themes of unhappiness, transformation, and dependence on family support. In both “The Metamorphosis” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” the main characters are unhappy in their lives, and go through a transformation where they see what their lives are like without them. We will examine the characters, the journeys they went through, and the different outcomes of similar experiences.

In his short story “The Hunger Artist,” Franz Kafka illustrates this prideful individual, who strives to starve himself to a disturbing and gruesome extent, losing his humanity. Kafka uses symbolism in order to fully create this idea of an individual’s, in this case the starving artist, estrangement from society.

Throughout The Hunger Artist, the man fasts without food for 40 days at a time gaining attention and publicity throughout surrounding areas. The publicity and previous attention dies down and the Hunger Artist eventually goes on to exceed his previous record of 40 days, eventually dying. Although this man repeatedly fasted, an act that is commonly used for spiritual growth, he is left both spiritually and physically empty. In failing to fast indefinitely (without stopping) he loses all spiritual satisfaction previously gained. This turns into a repeating cycle where the man always ends feeling both unhappy and empty. I believe that this gives insight on the theme of the story, that a false perception of reality and life in general leads to

Language forms the basis of civilization. Without language there can be no memory, culture, social structure and definitely no humanity. Throughout the novella, Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, Humanity plays as an important theme, as Gregor’s sacrifice grows more than already, after waking up as a bug, leaving himself to self-disgust, anger, and suddenly inhuman thoughts. At first his family is shuttered in denial. Humanity, is mostly affected by Gregor, as being disgusted from his own body and thoughts, but not only is Gregor disgusted from appearance, he can’t figure how to return as human and escape his inhuman body.

There are many parallels and differences between Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and "A Hunger Artist". Kafka portrays these differences and similarities very effectively through his utilization of elements such as transformation, dehumanization, and dedication to work. Through his works, Kafka communicates with the reader in such a way that almost provokes and challenges one’s imagination and creativity.

The Metamorphosis Through The Eyes of a Marxist Franz Kafka's story The Metamorphosis looks at the principles of society. At first The Metamorphosis seems to be about a man waking up as a monstrous cockroach, but there is a much deeper meaning. Gregor Samsa, the protagonist in this story wakes up as a monstrous cockroach, which affects his whole life. Gregor's relationship with his boss and family disappear. Using Marx theory the story reveals a metaphor that tells the story of a proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

Each word, carefully chosen by Kafka, causes the reader to ponder if this were not real feelings of the author and maybe these feelings were. Even though his fragmentation, disgust about his own image, the feeling of not having will, and loss of power, were worries in his era, Franz Kafka made them more explicit than other authors. Kafka touched the entrails of his readers causing much more than thin emotions, caused physical and bodily reactions.

Once Upon A time, a young boy named Gregor turned into a bug. It all started when Greg got bit by a roach. A few days went by and Gregor started to feel different. On this one particular day, Gregor woke to a face full of tiny hairs. He continually rolled around and spit out a mouthful of vomit. He jumped up and when he got up he noticed he could not balance like before. He landed hard on his back, that then caused a sharp pain to shoot up and down his spine. He rolled to his side and felt the spot with his fingers. As far as he could tell, there was some sort of lump on his back, about the size of a watermelon, but it began to burn intensely. He rubbed at it vigorously, trying to make it feel better, but instead it just oozed and burned even

Living his life in the shadows of his domineering father, Kafka often felt as if he was under constant pressure to take over the family business and to make his father proud. His father

Experiences encompassed in times of struggle can lead to a new transformative perspective of one’s relationship with self and the world. William Shakespeare’s last play “The Tempest” (1610), canvasses loss catalysing rediscovering the importance of life resulting in a greater understanding of how our flaws compromise our humanity. Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, shows this to be true, moving from a mindset focused on vengeance to a profound discovery of self. Similarly, in “Man’s Search for Meaning” (1946), fulfillment with discovering how we choose to cope and find meaning/purpose in life through unrelenting struggle is illustrated. The three-part non-fiction told by psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl, depicts his ordeal inside of concentration camps during the Second World War, elaborating on finding true meaning in life even under the most horrific circumstances. Frankl shares his process of discovery demonstrating his ability to overcome the most overwhelming experience leading to doorway of meaning, purpose and happiness.

He is even referred to as a ‘suffering martyr’ and obsesses himself with the limits of suffering. The hunger artist wants a ‘performance beyond human imagination since he felt that there were no limits to his ability for fasting.” Moreover, the hunger artist complicates our appreciation of his art when he admits that fasting is easy to do. If we take fasting to be a metaphor for suffering, he is saying that suffering is easy. It could be argued that the artist as a suffering figure is nothing new. The hunger artist is merely revealing his suffering to the world. He is not conveying his suffering to a medium we are accustomed to, such as writing. His medium is his cage and the public